Leaks in the Pipe
by StreetsIsCold
Summary: One of the many Big Sisters throughout Rapture failed her last mission to the surface. She is re-assigned by Eleanor Lamb to the role of protector, and bonded to a Little Sister. However, on their latest gathering mission, something goes awry, and both she and her Little Sister are freed of Lamb's control. What will become of them as fugitives to the Family? [Bioshock 2]
1. Prologue

Leaks in the Pipe: Prologue

It was the very best feeling in the world. Sitting on the outcropping, the smooth marble so chilled I could feel the cold seep through my gloves. My ears waited patiently to hear the occasional soft flick of water droplets fall from the leaking ceiling into the watery expanse that sat below my dangling legs. To feel my aching muscles burn satisfyingly as they finally had a chance to unclench, and to fill my lungs with the filtered air, every exhale smoky with my stresses.

The room used to be a ballroom perhaps-tables and chairs still stood up somewhat in the water, and to the left was an enormous glass window, showing the opposite end of the city in all of its splendor, the lights dancing in the water as the partygoers likely did back when they were alive.

For a single moment, I could almost see it again, I felt myself back there, that beautiful, colorful slice of heaven. I saw the buildings in the water as a lie, bright and alive, imagining the angels sleeping peacefully on the floor made my tongue tingle with a thirst for ADAM, and I clenched the edge of the marble nostalgically as Mr. B's strong scent filled my nose. All products of the rose-colored lenses I could never fully peel from my eyes.

But then the distant screams bounced through the halls, or the rude sound of a drill revving would bubble up from the earth, and I would be in the darkness of the ballroom, looking down at my face's reflection. The face I've always had, the face with one bright yellow eye, glowing like the stoplights I saw on the surface.

Whenever I saw myself back there, I always remembered another face. She had two eyes instead of one, she wore a silky dress that caressed her skin, all in lavender, her very favorite color, and a silver crown. It filled me with a frustration so dense, and so sharp that I felt my brain burn in my skull.

She had a name...it started with a P. P...P... I tried so hard to remember, thinking of her smile, and her laugh, the naive giddiness I felt back there melting through my fingers, unable to grasp it any more than I could hold the water sitting at the bottom of the room.

As I remembered it started happening again, warm water started leaking within the hard shell of my face, without meaning to, a high-pitched whine came from my throat as I reached up to grip the top of my head until the water stopped and I felt the drumming in my body slow back down.

I sat for a while longer, trying to force any thoughts out of my mind until, slowly, a compulsion itched at the back of my mind, begging me to stand up and walk back out of the room the way I came-I was being called home.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The tunnels running through the ceiling were symphonic-steam hissing from shafts mixing with the occasional sharp clack of my equipment hitting metal supports. The walls encroached on me as I moved forwards, but they were more comforting than threatening, I felt like a cat sitting snugly in a box, cradled by the narrow walls.

Cracks of light in the walls provided windows to Rapture's chaos. If I stopped in one area for long enough, my thoughts would be overclouded by the raving of passing splicers, or my head would be jerked protectively towards the echoing voice of one of my young siblings before the bellows of their protectors gave me peace.

Eventually, the rich wooden doors below gave way to thick vaults with iron wheels for knobs, and the lascivious living quarters changed into prison cells. I slid from my perch into a hallway, passing by figures, covered in trinkets bearing blue butterflies, figures that could almost pass as human until you looked closely at the deformed limbs and bubbling flesh.

I tried to make myself scarce among them-these splicers were loyal to our cause, but when rich sources of ADAM presented themselves, salvation took a backseat to drinking their lifeblood. Not that I blamed them; addicts as they were, it was almost like being on the edge of drowning, surrounded by oxygen, but unable to take a breath of air for religious reasons.

Nearing the deepest point of the prison, a presence called to me from inside past the door. Two hulking brutes glared at me with beady eyes from tiny heads affixed on musclebound necks. I paused to give them an unanswered screech of challenge before scampering through towards the woman leaning over her desk.

Sofia Lamb was on the intercom, the cool, calm voice of authority either running to the ears Eleanor or her people. I waited, crouched, watching her. She stood stock straight, her lips pursed, everything about her coiled tightly, seconds away from snapping under a self-imposed pressure. Walking forward, she stopped and crossed her arms, scanning every bit of me with those horn-rimmed circles of glass..

"This is her then...a Big Sister, unfit to do her duty. Failure to save your sisters from the corruption above our paradise." She spoke every word carefully and elegantly, all of them striking me with shame. Her arms crossed, gaze imperiously looking down at me, I felt in my element beneath her. My attention was abruptly stolen by a zealous cry of outrage-a badly disfigured spider splicer padded forward out of the shadows on the long-fingered stubs that used to be feet.

"Not Big Sister, but false idol! Almost caught by the surface law enforcement...only to panic, and drown the child in her cage! Careless, careless. Weak! She is unfit to be part of the mosaic of Utopia!" He cried, sauntering towards me in an awkward gait, his voice firing flecks of spittle on my suit through crooked teeth. I tried not to recoil or lash out as he raised a bony finger. "Our savior will need better than you! Damnation rain upon the unworthy!"

"That's quite enough, Father Whales." Lamb's power neutered her underling as he turned away, seemingly too disgusted to face me, hobbling back towards a chair in the corner. I looked back towards Lamb, my fate in her hands, the irrevocable lure making me focus on her.

"The Rapture family is forgiving." She continued, "But we will need another function for you if you cannot retrieve more gatherers. Perhaps you can deliver justice to those who steal ADAM from us?"

"I don't," A long-limbed man in the corner spoke, his voice cracking before he cleared his throat, "Uhh...I don't think we need to do that. She's brittle, isn't she? Sloppy conditioning as a kid, her file said she wasn't able to produce as much ADAM as the others."

"Very well." Lamb said. "But all of us must work towards our salvation. None can have idle hands-Grace? Do you have any suggestions?" She asked an older woman sitting in a chair, whose fingers cradled a cigarette. The woman spoke in a quiet, rasping voice.

"She might be weaker than the other Big Sisters, but she has to be a cut above the tin cans you have protecting the rest of the little ones. Maybe having a more mobile guardian could let a Sister collect ADAM where the others can't." Lamb paced over to the window, cupping her chin in a hand, the water making blue reflections dance on her face.

"Using a Big Sister to do a Big Daddy's job...it almost seems a waste. But I suppose it's our best alternative." She waved a hand behind her, dismissing me. "Go to the nursery." The direct order was irresistible, I turned and started out of the room without a sound, feeling eyes on me as I left. "Send down someone from Suchong's former division. He'll find her an unbonded Little Sister and arrange the rest."

Ward B of pediatrics should have been eerie, but I saw it as one of the warmest places in all of Rapture. Dropping down, I encroached upon a splicer standing in front of one of the bulkheads that lead into the children's dormitories. If his writing on a clipboard were any indication, it seemed he'd spliced lightly enough to still be coherent and even retain some medical knowledge. I stood behind him, vocalizing quietly to garner his attention as he jumped, pressing himself against the door.

"Jay-sus…" A four-fingered hand reached up to clutch his filthy labcoat's chest-the front smeared wtfh fluids, "Damn banshees...you're Lamb's new guinea pig guardian, then? I'd suck the ADAM out of you with a straw, but maybe that's just me." He gave me a lop-toothed smile, passing a grey tongue over his teeth as he reached a trembling hand towards the ADAM reservoir in my needle, I yanked it back-a loud warning screech bursting from my lungs as he stumbled back a second time.

Almost as soon as the noise happened, a muffled gasp came from the other side of the door followed by young voices-all of them distorted by a strange echo.

"Big Sister is here! She's singing for us!"

"Let her in! Let her in!"

"See, I told you she'd come!"

"Big Sister! Is Mr. Bubbles with you? Did you wake him up?"

All of them clamored behind the glass to get a better look at me, eyes glowing like blinking fireflies. To them, every Big Sister was the same individual. Lamb referred to us as a single entity, inspiring awe towards the omnipresent Rapture Family guardian and creating fear in her enemies. Not to mention the Little Sisters were created with an extremely limited memory.

I felt a sudden delight bubbling up in my body, nothing brought me more joy than seeing those tiny, dirty hands pressing against the glass. A sneaking suspicion told me the feeling was unnatural, it was just Lamb prying her fingers further into the folds of my brain. I wasn't certain, all I knew was that I needed to see them.

The now-distraught splicer reached back and twisted the vice locking the door, opening it to let me rush inside, my long, leather-bound legs suddenly constricted by tiny arms, little bodies bouncing up and down as pairs of glowing yellow eyes looked up at me. I felt a joyful sound welling up from my chest and released it, reaching down to place my hand on the head of one nearby, her hair the same stringy grimy texture that I knew so well by now.

"Big Sister! Come look, I drew you something!"

"Did you bring us any ADAM? Did you?"

"Can we decorate you again?"

I felt them tug me in different directions, almost yanking me off my feet before I reached down and gently pushed them off, lowering myself to my knees-enough consent for a couple of them to grab some discarded crayons and start drawing on the oxygen tank strapped to my back as another one sat in front of me.

"Do my hair again! Like last time!" Not knowing what the other Big Sister had done 'last time', I took a few thin strands of her hair and started twining them around one-another as a reflex while the rest fawned over me. Just having them around me elated me, excited me, I wanted to spend every ounce of my effort keeping them safe, all other thoughts leaking from the portholes in my head.

The Little Sisters, eventually slowing down, started to settle around the room, my oxygen tank and several other parts of my body now decorated with starfish, seashells, butterflies, and other accoutrements. The girl whose hair I had by now twisted into an unrecognizable mess seemed blindly satisfied with it and left to sit with the others. The medical splicer came back into the room and my hands twitched with a sudden need to tear him to pieces, I hated the way he looked at my Sisters with thirst in his eyes. I fantasized about the tip of my needle piercing his chest and sucking him dry before what little judgement I had took over and I hesitantly stood up, following him out.

"Will you be back, Big Sister?"

"Wait! I wasn't finished drawing…"

"Tell me a story!"

Walking forward, I forced myself not to pay attention to them as the splicer led me to a back room in the medical facility with a large gurney-many loose straps overlapping it.

"So...Lamb wants to pair-bond you with one of the girls then?" He stopped to look me over. "It should be possible. You're combat-ready by now, and the girls are already imprinted on you, all you really need are the pheromones." Turning around, he reached into a broken cabinet and rooted around inside before producing a blue flask, screwing on a nozzle and spritzing my suit with the mixture. I recoiled at the substance but didn't detect any change, my suit likely recognizing the chemical and filtering it out of my air. "That should complete the process. Now, with the matter of picking out the girl, I'll grab our newest one-freshly implanted and ready to gather. I'll go grab her." He left, clawed hand still limp as he teetered out of the room. I waited patiently, still in a mixture of the obedient haze I always felt around Lamb and the rush from the Little Sisters. Before he returned, I took a look around the room, curiosity looping strings around my fingers, drawing them towards the counters to explore.

I found several EVE hypos stashed away in a drawer, and even a gene tonic, which I'd be tempted to take if a very strong suggestion in the back of my head firmly said not to steal from the Family. However, on top of the counter I found a rectangular recording device-the same one I saw all over Rapture. Pressing it yielded a voice, the same voice as that medical splicer.

"Watching over the drugged-up little ADAM factories is grating. I swear, every time I look at one I can remember that one lucky harvest...ripping that worm from her belly, feeling her die as I shot up with enough plasmids to knock out a Big Daddy...that was the best day of my life. I wonder if the slugs in the big ones work the same way. They're useless for production now, but still act as a reservoir of sorts. I wonder if Lamb would let me try if I say it's for the good of the Family..." His voice got wet with saliva as he growled before the tape clicked off-footsteps approaching the room again.

The splicer returned, and after hearing the tape my processes conflicted within me. Self-preservation and need to protect the girls demanded I attack him as soon as he stepped into the room, but loyalty to the family forbade it, so I sat chastely, the knowledge of what he'd said brewing in my mind as he escorted a Little Sister into the room. Her auburn hair was short-cropped, just below her ears. Her skin was a stony grey-she'd look like a long-dead corpse were she not still moving around, and if the veins traced across her skin didn't still pulse orange. She looked up at me, her unnatural, glowing golden eyes widening.

"Big Sister! You smell like Mr. Bubbles…" She said dreamily, raising her arms towards me. I leaned over, scooping her up as she took a shuddering breath of me. Turning, I undid the latch on the cage fastened to my back, letting her enter and squat down before closing it once more. "Is sleep-time over, Big Sister? Are we going to the angels?" Not responding, I stood, her weight barely registering.

"Aahhh...if you girls happen upon a surplus of ADAM out there, say, more than what our Lamb needs...maybe you could slide it my way?" I turned to spare him a single glance before exiting the room. "Ungrateful, all of them always ungrateful." The splicer grumbled, turning back around as I scanned the room for a nearby access to the upper maintenance shafts. Finding one, I ascended-now that I was carrying the most precious cargo in Rapture, I needed to be extra careful to avoid any unneeded hostilities.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Shhhhht, we're in the secret place. This is where the birdies fly." I felt her press her face up against the bars of the cage as she looked down through the cracks in the shafts-which cast bars of light on our combined forms. "Tweet-tweet...here we come little angels."

I knelt under the piping, spreading my body out to squeeze through the ever-tightening cracks, careful to fit the cage through each crevice without making too much noise. My precious cargo in the back busied herself with various musings, singing to herself and looking around, evidently sniffing out ADAM-I could do the same, though my senses had become far less acute with age, while she was a veritable bloodhound with the richer bodies.

It didn't take long before she gasped and I felt her weight shift. Turning my head, I saw her pointing directly down under the cage-in Neptune's Bounty. I looked for an exit and peeked through, making sure the area was clear of Splicers before I lowered myself down.

"It smells funny in here, Big Sister…" My gatherer complained, she wasn't wrong. The pungent, salty odor of fish permeated even what little filtered air managed to creep through to my lungs, stronger still was the smell of rot, the fishers' work likely forgotten for years.

At the end of the docks was a body. It looked freshly dead, a blossom of blood still leaking through the floorboard. Its cause of death was no mystery-the corpse had several thick rivets plugged into it. Reaching back to unlatch the cage, I bowed, letting the Little Sister hop off as she brandished her needle.

"You can't take all the ADAM for yourself, angel." She chided, wagging her finger disappointedly at the body, "You need to share!" Crouching near the body, she jabbed the needle in with a bit more violence than needed as I stood straight, looking around for any other activity.

"Good girls gather, gather gather…" She went on, bringing up unbidden memories of the videos played over and over and over again. Before long, her song wasn't the only thing echoing through the the dank, withered wood of Neptune's Bounty. Heavy footfalls, strong enough to shake dust from the splintered beams made itself known, the interior dock creaking. A nearby door opened up and a second Little Sister walking through, followed closely by her protector, no doubt the one who had finished the splicer, his fists clenched around an enormous rivet gun as he lowed passively. The Little Sister noticed mine and giggled, pointing.

"Look, Mister Bubbles! She's with Big Sister! I bet they're playing in the fishies while we gather." My Little Sister, her pride obviously struck, ejected her needle and stood up, frowning at the other sister.

"Am not! Big Sister and I will get our bellies full of ADAM! No jellies for the mirror-me tonight, she's been bad, bad!" She said vengefully, approaching the other girl as the Rosie tightened his hands around his weapon, watching the exchange with just enough interest to see if intervention was needed.

"You don't have Mr. B with you, I'll bet you've never even seen the castle. It has more sunshine than you can ever drink." The other girl said confidently as my gatherer stamped her foot and heel-turned before setting back to her task, looking a bit more huffy about it. I gave the opposite girl a call indicating that my patience was wearing thin. Grabbing her protector's hand, she skipped happily out of the room with no further interruptions.

It took mere minutes before Little Sister had completely forgotten about the encounter, blissfully humming to herself as she finished up, the needle's reservoir roughly half-full as she inspected it.

"Some for now, some for later, one to many, three too many…" Walking closer, she waited for me to unlatch the cage before crawling in as I headed up towards the crack in the planks, entering it and crawling through.

It took only a bit of venture before we managed to find the shaft running above Arcadia, where the air was thick and moss grew freely in the cracks. my Little Sister pointed to the ground, indicating a nearby body. As I slipped under the roofboards, I startled a splicer in a butterfly mask, who gibbered for a moment before falling to his knees upon catching sight of my gatherer. He spoke in a brittle voice through cracked teeth and a mouth swollen with growths.

"Oh, great providence! The ADAM gatherer arrives to complete her sacred duty, to ascend the family!" Remembering something, he jumped to his feet, pointing towards a nearby door. "But..but..be-wary in Arcadia, the wretched cult of Saturnine do not listen to the wisdom of Lamb and her Family. Do not let them harm our salvation, Big Sister!" He bowed several more times while backing away as I followed my sister's guidance through a nearby door, his words flossing my ears with no more attention than I'd give a fly's buzzing.

As we passed through the enormous garden, the ambient metallic scrapes and clangs of Rapture were replaced with the soft rush of a stream. The sound was soothing, it reminded me of my flooded quiet space, which I dreamt about for a moment before being reminded of the task at hand as my gatherer's voice, close behind my ear.

"Pulling off the leaves hurts the plants, Big Sister." I advanced through the park-the usual filtered oxygen replaced with a purer flavor which matched the tall trees and verdant growth surrounding us. "Plants don't have petals...people have petals."

Eventually we came to the body-swinging slowly from a tree, hanged by its neck. The ground beneath it was smeared with symbols in a cloudy pink fluid and surrounded by curvaceous idols woven together from straw. Advancing cautiously, I noticed the faint crackle of arcing electric tripwire bolts beneath the body. Circumventing them but taking note for my descent, I gripped the tree, it bark proving to be a much easier purchase than the slippery steel panels I was used to, and began to climb.

Once on top, I brought out the small harpoon fastened to my left wrist and leaned down above the body to cut it down. Just as I began cutting the body free a gunshot echoed across the room, sparking off of my oxygen tank as I stumbled, dropping the body into the tripwires.

At once, a noisy sizzle filled the air as the electrified wires jolted the body, sending off sparks as it fried lines of flesh on the corpse making it twitch disturbingly. The sound triggering a frenzy of whooping and calling.

Splicers, bearing wooden masks, teleported out from bushes and behind doors, charging forward as I let out Little Sister, prompting her to start her work as I shook out my hand, permafrost crawling up my glove as icicles sprouted from my fingertips.

"Unbeliever! Soiler of sacred space!" The nearest splicer shouted, her revolver barking rounds in my direction as I fired a blast of ice at her, sealing her in cold until a solid smack from my fist splintered her into shards.

Another Saturnine member came from behind me, fire brimming from his fingertips. He launched a volley of blasts at me, with only a moment to react I teleported above him, freefalling for a moment as he looked around, confused.

"Where'd it...? Back to Hell no doubt! I-". He was interrupted by my boot hooking across his cheek, spilling him onto the ground before I landed and lanced him with my spear, draining the ADAM from his system.

A low, thrumming hum filled the air, I turned to seek out the source before dozens of pinpricks started making themselves known around my body-little buzzing nuisances clouded my vision, their venom burning my skin, making me scream in pain as I brushed through the clouds to seek out the source, finding the cultist at the far end of the park. He made to retreat, taking cover behind a crate as he primed his machine gun and let loose a volley of fire at me, the bullets sparking off my suit.

My arms curled up reflexively, drawing in the world around me as I tore bushes from their roots and upheaved benches, blasting them towards the splicer and knocking him back, his hornets meekly dispersing as he lay, groaning and bleeding on the ground. I extended my needle and walked towards him, deciding a little reward wouldn't go amiss while my gatherer finished up.

x-x-x-x-x

My Little Sister threw back her needle, drinking heavily from it before yanking away the bottle and coughing-a splatter of ADAM hitting the rocks before she held her needle up for me. "Here you go, Big Sister! Drink your medicine!" I slid the needle into my wrist and injected some of the substance into my body, letting out a satiated rattling breath and shaking out my hand before I handed my gatherer's tool back to her. She yawned and gave me a drowsy look.

"I'm tired, Big Sister...I think it's dream time." I reached back to re-open the cage, my fingers working the latch as I scooped her up, watching her rub her eyes as I let her crawl from my arms into the cage, shutting it firmly before heading back the way I came, my wasp-stings rubbing irritatingly against my clothing before my healing factor began to fade them.

As I navigated through the maintenance shafts, I felt the Little Sister's weight eventually settle on my back, hearing her breathe steadily and quietly in her sleep. I was hoping to go back to the quiet room for some time to myself after delivering her, so I brought her as close to Persephone as I could-making it to Siren's Alley before I noticed the star-like gaping mouth of a Little Sister vent in the street below.

I pushed out a nearby grate, ready to emerge before a pair of soft footsteps made me think twice. I looked down from my vantage point at a young girl walking by herself passed beneath my vantage point. In her hands were a gathering needle and a plasmid. My first thought was that she was obviously a Little Sister, but something made me hesitate...her skin was dark, in sharp contrast to the deathly, clammy pale grey of all my other siblings. That same instinct that tickled the back of my mind told me that Little Sisters that had been separated from the family must be...reintegrated.

Wanting to be sure she wasn't just looking for her protector, I moved silently-reaching up to slip my fingers around a beam on the ceiling to pull myself up carefully, listening intently as she whispered carefully to herself.

"I-I can't be afraid, Mama Tenenbaum said to be brave, I'm a big girl, I…" The hyperventilation in her voice and the way her hands tightened around the plasmid she held made it evident the spoken comforts weren't working on her. But that name triggered a switch in my mind, one that was only spurred on by the young girl turning around-her eyes weren't yellow.

I reared up and let out a screech, making her scream in turn, covering her ears as tears welled up in her eyes. My Little Sister woke up in the cage.

"Big Sister? Why are you singing? It isn't time for the concert yet." I leapt down from the ceiling, swinging in her direction as the outcast scrambled for the vent, nearly tripping over her own feet as she scrambled to find purchase. I was careful not to let my needle get in the way as I dashed for her, grabbing a handful of her hair, about to pull her off the vent before she cried out and spun around, jabbing the needle into my wrist and drawing ADAM from my veins. A shout left me, the burn of lifeblood leaving me was unbearable, my grip weakened and she wrenched her arm away scampering up and into the vent.

Recovering, I thrust my hand inside, knocking it against the walls, finding a small bare foot and dragging it back towards the entrance of the vent.

"Unzip her, Big Sister! She's been bad! Bad bad! Pull out her roses!" My Little Sister shouted, pounding her fists against the cage, distressing the girl inside the vent as she screamed again. I released her foot for a moment to try getting a better purchase, but instead my hand closed around the plasmid, which I yanked away out of the vent, giving it a passing glance before throwing it aside and shoving my arm back inside. I was too slow, by then I could already hear her scampering away to who-knows-where.

"Uh-oh, Big Sister...she's going back to the shadows…" My Little Sister intoned as I tried to stick my head into the entrance of the vent, screeching after the fleeing child, trying to scramble in any way to make myself fit in the hole, even though I was certain I couldn't.

Finally giving up, I instead turned my attention to the red glow of the discarded plasmid, picking it up. At least some use came out of it, I cocked my head curiously, trying to recognize the substance inside.

"Ooohh, Big Sister found a present! Maybe it has a shiny new toy inside! Open it up!" My companion chimed from behind me. Curiously, I unscrewed the top and took an empty hypo from my belt, removing some of the fluid inside and stowing away the bottle before injecting the hypo's contents into my suit's wrist-port.

The effects took a moment to catch before they triggered, very suddenly. A stabbing pain shot through my abdomen as I screamed, my hands shaking as I grabbed my waist, pawing at the side of my head as I saw the faint glow of my veins under my suit. Behind me I heard Little Sister screaming something incoherent, my thoughts blurred out by a terrible cry that seemed to be coming from inside of me. I retched, greenish-grey blood spilling from under my head and dripping onto the ground as I stumbled a few steps before falling to the ground, my vision swimming, feeling nothing as tiny fists pounded on my back.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I awoke to the sound of dry laughter and a clanging that made my head throb as a child screamed. Lifting my head hurt, the yellow tint in my eye combined with the way my head spun made me dizzy as I looked back. A horribly disfigured man was cackling as he bashed the bars of a cage fastened to my back, the child inside screaming as he did. I planted my hand on the ground, trying to shout at him-only a loud, rasping screech coming out as the man stumbled back, falling right on his bottom as he tried to crawl away.

"Big Sister! You're okay!" Said the little girl, her face stained with tears as the man opposite of me shook his head.

"N-no! I didn't mean to...I have custody! I HAVE CUSTODY!" He shouted, regaining his courage and brandishing a jagged pipe as he ran towards me, smacking it across my head with a clang that reverberated and rang in my ears, throwing me off my feet. My vision swam as I stood back up shakily, feeling his long-fingered hand close around my collar.

"You're gonna pay me back you whore! Every cent! Every drop!" He slashed at me, the hit sparking across my head as I lifted my arms, trying to push him off, but instead jabbing a long spear-like needle into his chest as he screamed.

Planting a boot on him, I kicked him off the needle, throwing him across the ground as he held the hole in his chest and panted. "I-I'll be back to collect what's mine! You wait!" Scrambling to his feet, he scurried away, shouting to himself as I got to my feet, holding my head and shaking it, trying to think, trying to follow my instinct, to follow that twitch in the back of my head...but nothing came.

"Big Sister! I thought you went to the angels...but you were just sleeping! Silly." The little girl in the cage giggled as my breath began to shallow. I held up my glove, the area underneath glowing with a circuitboard of yellow across my wrist.

I felt...empty. For the first time in a very very long time no unbidden thoughts or emotions came into my mind. I sat down on the porch, looking around. That plasmid had done something to me, but I wasn't sure what. My thoughts had all been knocked from whatever vault they had been locked away in, and now lay scattered in a thousand pieces around me. I tried to pick them up.

"Aww, don't worry Big Sister! We'll get lollies once we reach the castle!"

I was in Rapture, Good Girls Gather, my Little Sister is on my back, Good Girls Gather, Mister Bubbles was gone, ADAM was good, Good Girls Gather…my favorite color was...lavender...who am I? I am...a Good Girl...the name started with P...P...

My mind cried out with frustration and I screamed with it, smacking my fist against the porch as my brain refused to focus. It was all so hazy, but at the same time just out of my reach. I felt a hand reach through the cage and pet the back of my head.

"It's okay...I think your singing is pretty." Her hand passed over the gash in the metal that splicer had left and she gasped. "Oh no! The bad man scratched your crown! At least the eyes have all closed now that he's gone to the party."

I tried to calm myself down, rooting through my memories. That girl...the plasmid...she'd been purified, no longer a Little Sister, was it possible…? I looked down at my hand, it was the same as before, then turned my gaze to the girl locked tight in the cage behind me. Did I really cure myself? Was Lamb's voice really gone?

Reaching back, I unlatched the cage and opened it carefully, letting the little girl hop out. "Oh-do you hear the flap-flap-flapping? Is it angel time already?" She asked as I reached down to bring her a little closer, one hand tucked under her as the other glowed with proximity. She looked up at me vacantly, her yellow eyes piercing as she continued smiling that happy little grin.

Unsure of what to do, I raised my hand towards her head, gripping her forehead

as the glow started trickling into her body-making the network of veins across her being glow in sympathy. The light intensified, climaxing in a blinding flash as she gasped for air. The glare became too much, and I was forced to drop her to drop her and turn away, shielding my face as the very air around her sizzled.

Turning back, I saw a young girl looking down at her hands, turning them back and forth before turning her gaze up to me, her mouth dropping open, big green eyes focused on my helmet. Pressing against my knee, I stood up to my full height and vocalized, a metallic hiss that seeped out from under my head as she screamed, standing up as fast as she could and trying to run away before stumbling over a loose board and falling. Turning around, she crawled away from me, her eyes full of terror. Backing herself against a corner, she let out a trembling whimper as her body tensed for what was to come.

I ventured closer, slow and deliberate with my movements as I knelt down in front of her, trying to soothe her by letting out a quiet squeal of invitation, holding out my hand in offering. Her arms, at first packed tightly against her chest, started to loosen as she reached forward to touch my glove briefly before withdrawing it again just as quickly. Getting on her knees to look up at me, she reached up to touch the yellow glow of my eye.

"Big...Sister?" She asked curiously, running her hand around the metal frame of my head as I lowered it to give her easier access. "Is this really you? But why...how…?" She sat back down, leaning against the wall and trying to catch her breath as I turned around, hearing the rallied voices of splicers behind me.

Turning around, I unlatched the cage and let out a low hiss. She got to her knees and put her hands on the edge of the cage. "I...I don't know if I want to…" I let out a louder, more insistent cry, prompting her to crawl inside as I snapped the latch shut, running out of the alcove and swinging up onto a nearby ledge. I dashed towards the vent opening in the ceiling, my rescued Sister crying out with each leap in height. Moments later, splicers filtered into the hall, weapons drawn, scanning their surrounding wildly.

"They're here somewhere! I know it! Tear the place apart!" I watched them for a couple seconds, the girl behind me uncharacteristically silent before I slipped away, ready to reposition and try to get things figured out.

"Where are we?" The little girl asked, looking around at all the pipes running over the maintenance duct. "Who were those people? Where are you taking me?"

I chose not to even attempt to answer her, knowing it would do no good as I headed further from Prometheus. Disoriented as I was, I knew that we were now fugitives. I wasn't sure if Eleanor could tell her bond with the Little Sister had been severed, but if she hadn't, we needed to stay anonymous for as long as we could.

I managed to get as far as the large, lavish apartments of Olympus Heights before the desire to stop running and collect myself overwhelmed me, and I dropped below. Or at least I tried; looking down was...dizzying. I felt myself hesitate, and every time I told my legs to fall, they seemed to refuse unless I eased myself down from the roof. Managing to secure my footing on a banister, I scurried off of it into a nearby apartment. Once I'd scanned the room for unwanted company, I reached back to let my companion out again. She stepped down from the cage before recoiling at the sight in front of her; two rotting corpses-no doubt the apartment's previous tenants-lay slumped against the wall, their heads blown open, long since decayed. I watched her hold a hand to her mouth before she ran over to a nearby wall and dry-heaved, vomiting out a greenish-grey substance, probably residue from what used to be in her stomach lining. She wiped off her mouth, coughing and looking worse for wear, her mouth trembling as she tried not to look at the bodies.

I was surprised, ever since I'd started seeing Rapture for what it was once the conditioning weakened, I'd grown accustomed to the bodies. I've never seen a Little Sister react this violently before, though I suppose curing her had also removed the false pretense from what she saw.

Moving over to the bodies, I grabbed one of them by the shoes and dragged it over to the door, dropping it into the hall, I repeated the process with the second one. The stench of corpse was still present, but she seemed grateful for me doing so, removing herself from the corner and sitting on the couch, still jumpy with distress as I walked over to sit on the separate end. We stayed in silence for a while before she turned to me.

"I'm Jamie, what's your name?" I didn't answer; I had no answer to give. Turning, I studied her instead. Her skin looked much more flushed and alive now-and I could see that she had a smattering of freckles on her cheeks and nose, which extended down to her shoulders. Her eyes were expressive and radiated an innocence that I'd never seen before as her eyebrows knit together. "Can you talk?"

My response was more reminiscent of nails scraping a chalkboard than speech, startling her and causing her to cringe. "No? Can you understand me?" I nodded slowly. "Okay..."

Behind her, a thudding echoed through the hall, I half-stood and watched the door, waiting for a sign of some kind before the sound eventually stopped. The little girl, Jamie, was still trying to piece together what was going on. She noticed the yellow glow crawling across my forearm.

"Is that how you took it away? Did you cure me?" She asked, I looked down at my plasmid-bearing hand, which seemed answer enough for her. "Thank you."

Restless with paranoia that Lamb's thugs would burst through the door at any minute, I set to searching the apartment for supplies, leaving the couch behind as Jamie watched me. "Hey, where are you…?" She made to get up too before she saw that I was just rummaging through the cupboards and settled back down. "Oh. Let me know if you find any food."

I turned towards her. "Y'know, food? Food." Compacting her fingers, she pressed them against her mouth to simulate putting something inside. I turned back, unsure of how to respond as I pulled out empty rusted cans and vacant hypos. Under the sink, I managed to find a small dusty carton of revolver ammunition and a used first aid kit, both useless to me.

Heading back towards the couch, I noticed Jamie staring up at me. "Why are you wearing that helmet?" She asked, reaching towards it. "Are you scary underneath?" I drew back, snarling at her when the small fingers touched my eye, causing her to recoil in fear.

There was a freedom in the way I could lash out at her. Nothing told me not to, I wasn't forced to care for her anymore. Looking down, I realized I could leave her right here if I wanted to. After all, if it really did come down to fleeing from Lamb for the rest of my life, she would only weigh me down.

Standing, I headed back towards the open window, making her jump to her feet too. "Is it time to go already?" I ignored her, drunk on my newfound free will as I stepped up onto the balcony, "Wait, why won't you answer me? Big Sister!" She ran forward, grabbing my hand and pulling it back towards the apartment. "Don't leave me! I can't do it without you!" Turning, I was about to shake her off before I saw her face. She looked like she was teetering on the edge of despair, her eyes glistening as her tiny hands gripped my glove with all the strength they could muster. Hearing the desperation in her voice, I realized that I was afraid too. And if I was afraid, I could only imagine what she was going through. Loneliness usually wasn't a problem for me, and I had no real reason to take her with me-after all she didn't produce any ADAM. But for some reason, I wanted to keep her safe. This wasn't the instinctual twitch I had been implanted with; it was just a feeling.

I sat down on the floor in front of her. She looked frantic, like she was about to break down at any second. Deciding I needed to do something about it, I reached into one of the pouches cinched to my leg and pulled out a pair of crayons, handing one of them to her. She stared at me curiously as I lowered my head. Understanding my intentions, she reached up to start tapping her crayon against the carapace, time passing before she let out a weak chuckle.

"Heh...I can't think of what to draw…" I felt her hands trembling and waited patiently before she finally started to sketch something on the domed surface. It took a few moments, but eventually she started to get more involved, putting her weight on my head and growing quiet as she focused on decorating me. I tilted my neck to the side, trying to get a more comfortable position before she scolded me.

"Hey! Don't move, all right? You'll mess me up." I made a low chuff of disappointment and maintained the uncomfortable position, wrapping my hands around my calves and trying to relax as she doodled. "You smell bad." She said, leaning forward to sniff my outfit carefully and covering her nose. "Don't you take baths?" What she smelled was likely the pheromone. With her mental conditioning removed, she now smelled me as a human would, and I often heard splicers complain about the Big Daddies' scent.

Looking down at the crayons, she looked as though she had, very suddenly, hatched an idea. "Oh! Maybe you can't talk, but can you write?" She grabbed one of the crayons, holding up my glove and dropping it in the palm. "Come on, you can write, can't you? Write 'hello'!" I grimaced inwardly, it had been a very long time since I'd written anything. I barely remembered how. The only maintenance of literacy I had was from reading the various scrawlings across the walls of Rapture and from what the Little Sisters wrote in their nursery.

Trying my best to grasp the crayon properly, I held it in the center of my fist, practically carving the writing into the floor. "H-E...L-O." She said as I wrote, I turned to her for accolades as she gave me a sympathetic look. "That's good! Maybe we can talk like this! Can you write your name?"

I moved the crayon underneath and placed it on the ground. I only knew one name that sounded familiar to me. But I'd long since forgotten it. I traced a line with a hump on top. "P?" Jamie asked, waiting patiently.

She was abruptly interrupted by a loud, deep low coming from outside. The thumping resumed, followed by a high voice joining in. "What's that?" She asked. I already knew, and didn't bother even looking up from the letter I drew. Were it splicers I'd have more concern, but fortunately, Big Daddies' conditioning made them steadfastly neutral to anything outside their sphere of influence.

Standing up, her curiosity lead her to the door, opening it a bit and peeking out before she gasped. "It's one of the big ones! And he's got a girl with him!" Turning back, she seemed to be puzzling out something before she came over to where I sat. "Hey, come on! You can use that power to save her, can't you? Just like you saved me!"

I shook my head as she grabbed my hand and tried to pull me off the ground. "Why not? She's just like me. We have to save her!" I pull my arm back, but she only tugs harder, straining with effort. "Mom...always-rrg-says to help people...so we need to help her!"

There was no way to tell her that it wasn't that easy; getting close to her would be impossible so long as her guardian was still alive. Jamie frowned at me, giving one last pathetic yank before giving up completely and frowning at me. "Fine! I'll bring her here then!" She huffed before marching stoically out of the room. I watched her go, groaning quietly in resignation before standing up. Little girl or not, that Big Daddy would tear her to shreds if she became a nuisance.

I left the room to see Jamie carefully approaching the hulking form of a Bouncer, which let out a long growling bellow, its hand clenching and unclenching. The thing's thick metallic body took up the entire hallway with its girth, and its glowing portholes shined through the dim hallway. A yellow-eyed child hid cautiously behind his leg, murmuring non-sequiturs to herself. Jamie approached them slowly, her confidence shot by the sheer size of the Big Daddy.

"Sick! She's sick! I can see it, Mister Bubbles, she's not special anymore!" The Little Sister hissed, glaring at Jamie and pointing the ADAM needle in her direction..

"Hey, it's okay! I'm not going to hurt you, come here…" Jamie said, trying to sound soothing as she crouched down slightly and held out her hand to the other child, throwing glances up at the Big Daddy, which watched her with the many glass eyes poking from its helmet.

She took two small steps closer, her gaze fixed on the Big Daddy. It stayed quiet until her foot moved just a single inch closer, after which it decided she was close enough and roared. The portholes on its head flickered orange as his drill revved up, filling the hallway with a loud mechanical roar. Jamie tucked herself into a ball and screamed, covering her ears.

"Do it Mr. B! X her eyes! Bring out her roses!" The Little Sister instigated, hopping up and down as her Big Daddy raised his arm in warning. Jamie needed to distance herself, or he'd attack. But she was frozen with fear, huddled in a little ball on the ratty carpet. The Big Daddy, seemingly not wanting to waste fuel on such a small threat, raised his giant boot in the air, ready to bring it down on the young girl. Bolting out from the room, I drew back telekinetic energy in my hands, ripping chairs, cabinets, and doors around me in an orbit before lancing them at the Big Daddy full-force. The blast of debris knocked him off-balance, sending him stumbling backwards into a wooden wall, his weight crunching through it as though it were paper as he let out an echoing grunt of pain before ripping himself out of the wall and roaring, the portholes now bright red as he brought his drill to bare.

I screeched in challenge and readied myself, turning the wheels on my syringe to increase the flow of ADAM into my blood as I faced off against the Big Daddy. Jamie, having recovered her sensibilities, scrambled back, hiding in the doorway of the apartment as she watched.

Too busy watching her retreat, I left my guard down, allowing the Bouncer to move with more speed than I thought possible for something his size. Spinning up his drill, he smashed it in an uppercut against my body, the hit tossing me back, probably breaking something. Luckily I had the presence of mind to recover and managed to brace myself against the wall as he charged at me, drill braced.

Switching plasmids, I felt a chill run down my arm as icicles formed at my fingertips, and permafrost crawled up my wrist. I kicked off the wall as the Big Daddy barreled past me, using my momentum to grab his swim gear and hook myself onto his back. Planting my hand onto his shell, I encased him in ice, freezing him in his tracks. Scanning the surface for a port in his suit, I found my mark and and plunged my needle inside, draining his ADAM. He thawed faster than I thought he would, a huge meaty hand reaching up to pluck me off and slam me against the ground. I rolled to avoid the steel-toed boot smashing into the floor, creating a crater in the wood as his drill came down next, barely missing me, boring through the wood, splinters flying free as chips of drywall crumbled straight through the ground.

I teleported away as he came down for a second smash, re-appearing a short distance away. Feeling drained, I knew I didn't have much EVE left and resolved to conserve it as the Bouncer looked up. Seeing that I'd changed positions, he stomped the ground with his boot in irritation, drawing a loud creak from the entire building as dust showered from the ceiling. I ran forward, hoping to catch him off-guard, sliding under his drill swing and jabbing his undercarriage with my needle. He growled in pain at the hit, but I recovered too slow, and he turned too quickly. A huge gloved hand grabbed my helmet lifting me off my feet like I was a ragdoll.

I couldn't teleport, his mass too big to support both of us, my arms flailed weakley, trying to knock him off as he thundered victoriously, squeezing my head. The pressure became unbearable as I felt rivets pop and metal cave inward. Turning, he slammed me into the wall and revved up his drill, boring it into my abdomen, directly below my ribs. A shower of gore spilled loose as I screamed, feeling every blade as it spun around inside of me.

"Big Sister!" Jamie shouted in panic as the other Little Sister cheered encouragement. I was barely conscious, my body limp as the Big Daddy tossed me to the ground, bearing down on me. I looked around as much as I could with blood clouding my eye. Chum-like bits of my body littered the ground as the Big Daddy stepped between the holes in the floor he'd made, the wood straining under his boot. I weakly raised an arm, concentrated as much as I could, and fired Winter Blast directly underneath him. The next step he took forward, his drill raised to kill, came directly down on the snap-frozen ground and broke it instantly, sending him straight through the floor. The sheer weight of his body heavy enough to smash through three more levels before finally stopping when it hit the ground, unmoving, either unconscious or dead. My body wracked with coughs as I looked up, barely conscious. Jamie approached the Little Sister, who backpedaled, screaming out for Mr. Bubbles before tearfully shoving Jamie aside and dashing for a vent at the end of the hall. "I'm going to tell Eleanor's mommy on you!" She scolded, scrabbling back up into the darkness.

I let my head drop onto the ground, the gaping hole in my midsection throbbing, I could almost feel the air blowing in my newly-opened cavity as it leaked blood and sour-smelling fluid everywhere. Jamie ran over to me, tears in her eyes, careful to circle around the hole in the floor.

"Big Sister! I'm so sorry...I didn't mean to-I just wanted to help!" She pleaded, her eyes glassy as she tried not to look at my wound, putting her hand on my shoulder. I increased the flow of ADAM to my body, accelerating my healing factor, and numbing the pain. Letting me push forward a little more as I propped myself up on one elbow, trying to get to my feet but stumbling. Jamie held up her hands, unsure of what to do. "No! No, you have to rest."

But I couldn't, I knew that Lamb would hunt us down. Anomalies in the Family were not accepted, especially not if they interfered with her flow of ADAM. I crouched down and touched the cage, indicating for her to climb in, which she did, albeit hesitantly, hands grasping the bars nervously as I used the wall to stand upright, heading back into the room towards the balcony. My quiet place was nearby, I could go there-Lamb didn't know about it. No one did except for me.

Stumbling across and onto the rim of the balcony, I tried not to look down lest my newfound self-preservation kick in and relied on my upper arm strength to drag myself up into the maintenance shaft. Half-crawling, half-dragging myself down the familiar pathways, I took frequent breaks to catch my breath before pushing onward. Jamie waited quietly behind me, her nervousness palpable as I found the dark exception in at the bottom of the vent, trying to lower myself down as much as I could before resigning to falling the rest of the way, almost losing consciousness as I hit the ground on my side, spilling Jamie out from the cage. She let out a hiss of pain before recovering, not badly hurt as she took my hand, helping me to the corner of the room and propping me up against the wall, the many leaks and drips in the room calming me down. My wound leaked deep red, staining the hand that I held over it as I lazily turned towards Jamie.

I felt my eyelids getting heavier as blood flowed freely, I was weak-my ADAM-given healing factor was draining my body as much as it could to keep me alive. My vision swam as Jamie gave me careful looks, her eyebrows knit. Those eyes...they had such empathy in them, nothing like the empty glowing orbs she sported before.

"...are you going to be all right?" She asked me, her voice nearly cracking with anxiety. "You can't leave me, don't become an angel. I don't even know your name yet."

Realizing that I could die here, I became resolute. Very slowly gathering all my strength, I lifted my arms to my head. I worked the seal above my neck, unlatching it and reaching up, trying to gather strength in my arms to remove my head. Jamie understood what I was trying to do as my hands slipped off, dropping to the ground.

I straightened my head as much as I could as she reached forward and put both of those tiny hands on either side of my head, gingerly lifting it off. When she got halfway up, I took a gasp of air, the exhale ejecting a cloud of mist from my mouth. I tasting the moisture in the oxygen, feeling it on my tongue and teeth for the first time in years and years. She lifted with all her strength, my head obviously heavy for her before she finally managed to remove the sphere completely. I looked at her, emotion welling in my chest as I saw the young girl without the cloudiness of the lens. Jamie's face was round, and her eyes were a beautiful brown, large like a puppy's. She rested a hand on my chest, the other cradling the metal orb in her lap. I raised a shaking hand up to cup her cheek, stroking it...it felt so smooth. I pushed back her hair as she swallowed visibly, those big compassionate eyes growing shiny with tears.

"You're beautiful." Suddenly remembering I could see, I turned to the side, peering into a clear, dark puddle of water. Inside of it was a face I didn't even recognize...her hair may have been a dirty blonde once, but was now filthy and greasy enough that only a hint of color showed through. She had dark eyebrows that contrasted her hair, and eyes that glowed faintly yellow as she studied me through the water. Her name came to me all of a sudden, my name.

I raised my arm just enough to scrape the needle of my weapon against the ground, Jamie turned and looked closely.

"P.."

I hesitated for a moment, my vision swimming before I moved on to the next letter.

"A…"

My eyelids felt so heavy, I wanted to sleep so badly...but Jamie grasped my glove to guide it and I looked at her, continuing.

"I...G…"

She and I finished the last letter together.

"E. Paige? Your name is Paige?" Jamie looked at me in a new light as I stared right back into her eyes. A second later she was on me, her arms thrown around my neck as she cried into my dirty hair, smiling as she sniffled.

I placed a hand on her back as she curled up beside me, feeling my strength leave as I leaned against her head, feeling her warm little body press up against mine as Rapture melted away.


End file.
